"...ordinary
citizens elsewhere delighted in the great
space dream, and carried rocketry during the
late 1920s and into the 1930s through a network
of societies. They showed, at least for a
while, that a new technology could be forged
by amateurs. Like their counterparts in astronomy,
archaeology, and palenontology, they made
notable discoveries..."
- William E. Burrows in This
New Ocean
It is not enough just to read about space
exploration, development, and settlement.
You must help make it happen.
Today that means far more than simply writing
a letter to your government representative
at funding time for NASA.
For decades the press took it for granted
that, while there was some general interest
by the public in space, no truly enthusiastic,
grass roots support of space exploration
and development existed outside of the employees
of big aerospace companies and NASA.
In fact, today there exist in the US and around
the world hundreds of public organizations,
large and small, with no government or
corporate affiliation that actively pursue
various strategies to support space exploration
and development.
The number of participants in these organizations
is significant and growing. The Planetary
Society, for example, has over
100,000 members and the National
Space Society over 25,000. The
NSS, in particular, relies heavily on a network
of local chapters
whose members energetically pursue a wide
range of projects and activities.
This page gives an introduction and
links into this space activist movement. See
also a short history
of space activism.
Here we divide the public space organizations
into two types:
Space
advocacy organizations work
to educate the public about the benefits of
space exploration and to sway the government
for greater support for space activities.
Space
R&D groups work on real
hardware such as advanced
amateur rocketry or do in-depth
studies into long term projects
such as lunar and Mars colonization. Some
of these project cross over from purely volunteer
effort to startup business arrangements.
Note that there are organizations that combine
efforts in both of these areas. Also, there
are are local independent space
clubs that pursue their own agendas
outside of the large organizations.
The
Space Show - a radio and Internet webcast
program in which host David Livingston interviews
people involved in space exploration and development.
He particular focuses on the NewSpace
community and industry.
The goal is to encourage "human advancement
into space through commercial endeavors"
in honor of writer Robert
Heinlein, many of whose books depicted
a wonderfully exciting future for humanity
in space.
Entries must be sent by May 14, 2005 and
awards will be presented on July 7, 2005,
the anniversary of the birth of Robert A.
Heinlein. Details of the contest is available
in invitation.pdf.
Space advocacy organizations push
the development of space by means of political
action (e.g. lobbying Congress), public
education, magazines, conferences, special
events, and any other technique they can dream
up.
Space advocacy spans a wide range
of approaches and philosphies. Many US space advocacy
groups, for example, believe that true development
of space will occur only with private enterprise.
Space is, in fact, increasingly becoming dominated
by commercial business (See Space
Investing.) Most of the annual worldwide
expenditure (around $90 billion) on space
related activities is now for commercial enterprises
such as communications satellites, commercial
launchers, ground stations, remote sensing data
processing, etc.
While most of the public still see
space exploration and NASA as one and the same,
some space interest groups go so far as to push
for the elimination of NASA, citing its
failure to produce an economically viable shuttle
and the instances where it has interfered with
commercial activity. (See NASA
in Space
Controversies.)
The mainstream space advocacy groups,
though, see NASA as still the leader in space
exploration and instead urge it to concentrate
on research and basic science and leave development
to the commercial sector.
NASA and other US government involvement
with space is and will likely remain very significant.
The percentage
of public funding going to space endeavors
in the US has fallen to a fraction of the levels
in the 1960's. In absolute terms, though, the
billions spent by NASA and the military still
add up to real money.
So many US space advocacy groups
therefore try their best to influence how the
government spends this money. This can be by direct
lobbying or by convincing their own members, as
well as the general public, to contact their representatives
in support of space funding and particular projects
of interest.
In addition to funding, governments
have tremendous influence on the course of commercial
space development with thelaws
and regulations under which the
commercial sector must operate.
Influencing these space laws
and regulations is becoming an increasing emphasis
for space advocates. The 1998 Commercial
Space Act passed by the US Congress, for
example, occurred primarily because of the efforts
of the space advocacy movement.
Passage of this bill illustrates
how the political sophistication of space
advocacy groups has grown over the years. Many
of the groups were heavily involved, for example,
in keeping the International Space Station (ISS)
project alive and in pushing NASA towards greater
support for new launch technology, especially
Reusable Launchers. (See the Space
Legislation section for more resources
concerning legislative efforts of space activists.)
Note that the battle
over the ISS, the largest space project
since Apollo, further illustrates the wide
diversity of opinion in the space advocacy
community. Many space groups, in fact, opposed
the ISS. They see it as a flying white elephant
that benefits NASA institutionally but does little
to address the real roadblocks to space development,
namely the high cost of access to space
and to working there.
The mainstream groups, though, see
the ISS, despite its cost and shortcomings, as
necessary for the continued development of a space
infrastructure. This includes the research and
development of microgravity processes and
industries, studies into the adaptation
of humans to the space environment, testing and
development of tools and techniques that will
be needed for exploration of the Moon and
Mars. (See the ISS entry in the Space
Controversies section.
USA Space
Advocacy
The Largest
Public Membership Organizations
National
Space Society-NSS
NSS is one of the largest general space advocacy groups
and emphasizes human space exploration. It pushes for
increased space funding, publishes the space magazine
Ad Astra, organizes public events, including one of
the largest annual space conferences, and carries out
numerous other space related activities.
NSS has its headquarters in Washington D.C. and also
has 95 local chapters around the world.
Planetary
Society
The Society was founded in 1980 by the late Carl Sagan
and the JPL scientists Bruce Murray and Louis Freidman.
It originally was intended to raise support for unmanned
space science exploration. However, the Society has
since become a strong supporter of manned exploration
of Mars, even going so far as to support the Space Station
(anathema among most mainstream scientific organizations)
as a staging base for Mars missions.
Also, the Society gives strong support to SETI
and other astrobiology research. It is the largest of
the space interest groups.
100k members
The Planetary Society sponsors a number of projects.
Here is a partial listing:
Cosmos
1: solar sail project. The Society is managing
the project with funding funding from Cosmos
Studios and sail construction and launch by the
Russian Babakin Space Center
Contests
- the Society has sponsored a number of contests,
especially for students. See project listing in the
Contest section.
Science
- similarly, the Society runs Mars rover, microphone
on Mars landers and other science related projects
usually aimed towards student involvment. Seeproject
listing in Space Science section.
Mars
Society
The Mars Society was organized in 1998 by Robert Zubin,
Kim Stanley Robinson, and other Mars exploration enthusiasts.
Patterned after the Cousteau Society and National Geographic
Society, it will attempt to raise public interest in
Mars via magazines and other educational activities.
It will also push for increased public funding for Mars
exploration and development and.
The Society reportedly has about 7000
members as of 2005.
However, like these organizations, the Mars Society
will also fund projects on its own. These include
technology development and, eventually, low cost robotic
missions New Mars - A Journal
of the Martian Frontier
The Mars Society, though much smaller than the Planetary
Society, still manages to sponsor a number of projects.
Here is a partial listing:
Mars Desert
Research Station - a second Mars base simulator
will be based in a desert southwest USA location for
part of the year, and go on educational tours the
rest of the time.
Moon
Society
The Moon Society is "a non-profit educational and
scientific foundation formed to further scientific study
and development of the moon." It is a spinoff of
the Artemis
Project , which is focused on the development of
commercial ventures on the Moon.
SEDS
Students for Exploration and Development of Space is
the leading university student activist group. It has
nearly 30 chapters at universities around the world.
World
Space Center
Long time space activist Jeff Krukin and a group
of notables including actor Walter Koenig and journalist
Lloyd Dobyns have formed this organization. The groups
says,
Our goal is to connect the general public
with the imminent beginning of the second space age,
the age of personal space travel and its effects on
all our lives!
The group had its initial meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina
on January 30th, 2006.
The
Archimedes Institute
The Archimedes
Institute is a non-profit organization devoted
to the study of the legal framework of space development.
This includes everything from government policy effects
on commercial space activities to the effect of international
treaties on asteroid mining.
"... have flown in space, promote space science
and exploration for the benefit of all, enhance education,
foster environmental awareness, and encourage international
cooperation." Goals
Astronauts
Memorial Foundation
Established after the Challenger tragedy, this private,
non-profig organization seeks to honor those astronauts
who have died with educational programs about space.
"...was founded by members of the International
Lunar Explorers Working Group (ILEWG) and other
attendees of the 4th International Conference on the
Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon (ICEUM4).
The new society strives for a human return to the
Moon. Its goal: to expand the presence of humans to
the Moon permanently for the benefit of mankind and
the progress of our species as a space-faring civilisation."
ProSpace
ProSpace ".. is a grassroots organization of American
citizens dedicated to opening the Space Frontier to
ALL people as rapidly as possible..." - ProSpace
web page.
Space Access
Society
SAS, organized by Henry Vanderbilt, is devoted solely
to supporting efforts to reduce the cost of reaching
space. Although a relatively small group, SAS was quite
influential in obtaining funding for the DC-X,
DC-XA projects and later for the X-33.
SAS has organized a series of informal conferences
each April for the past several years in which many
of the leading individuals and companies developing
reusable launch vehicles have reported on their latest
work.
Space
Connection
Raises public awareness of space exploration with many
educational activities. For example, the Space Benefits
program includes such initiatives as awarding the use
of a special logo that indicates a product was certified
as a spin-off of space development. This group has strong
aerospace industry support.
Space
Day
This group organizes the yearly Space Day celebrations
in May to raise public awareness of space. It has strong
aerospace industry involvement.
"organization of people dedicated to opening the
Space Frontier to human settlement as rapidly as possible.
Our goals include protecting the Earth's fragile biosphere
and creating a freer and more prosperous life for
each generation by using the unlimited energy and
material resources of space. Our purpose is to unleash
the power of free enterprise and lead a united humanity
permanently into the Solar System."
This group is extremely active with many projects in
the fire. Its leader Rick
Tumlinson is a long time activist who, for example,
helped to form MirCorp
and was the first to approach Dennis
Tito about a possible trip to space.
The group is closely affiliated with the FINDS (Foundation
for
FINDS
The Foundation for the Non-governmental Development
of Space provides grants to businesses, universities,
and other groups that are developing new and innovative
approaches to Space exploration. Their endowment has
now reached $25 million and they gave out grants
in 1999 that totaled over three quarters of a million
dollars.
They are funding various contests as well such as the
CATS low cost launcher competition.
Earth and
Space Foundation
The Earth and Space Foundation (formerly the 2111 Foundation)
provides grants for research related to space exploration,
remote sensing, earth ecology, and other areas. The
foundation
"funds scientific exploration that both helps
us to understand the Earth's environment and explore
the frontier of space. ...
This work includes field research that uses space
technology and information to help protect and understand
the Earth's environment and field research that applies
environmental knowledge to help us to explore other
planets. Through its work the Foundation seeks to
fulfil the vision of the Earth as an oasis cared for
by a space faring civilization.
Since its establishment the Foundation has helped
support over 40 projects around the world." -
Earth and Space Foundation web site.
The Foundation resides in Britain and is registered
as a non-profit organization.
Apollo Society
Hawaii based group created to "..advance space
exploration and establish human communities beyond
Earth". See their Delphi
Project that seeks "...to define, design
and establish a permanent, self-sustaining community,
'Delphi' on Earth's Moon.".
American
Lunar Society
"... dedicated to the continued study of earth's
moon. This is accomplished through both continued
observation and attention to current research. Our
goals also include the education of our youth through
age-specific projects."
CHASE:
Center for Humanity and Space Exploration "... dedicated to "a space mission to humanity."
This global mission includes the exploration of space
with international partners, the commitment to global
communities and sustainability, and the development
of socio-economic and knowledge benefits based on
space-related assets." A NASA and San Jose State
University collaboration.
Coalition
for Space Exploration
"An ad hoc group of space industry companies
and advocacy groups, fully supports the Space Exploration
Program."
Future
Astronauts of America
"... multi-faceted program designed to encourage
young students and adults to become involved with
the exciting world of space science and it's applications..."
Island One
Society
A n open site where resources can be posted that are
related to space, especially with respect to colonization.
National
Aerospace Development Center (NADC) -
"..independent nonprofit, nonpartisan center
supporting the development of space through information
research, analysis, outreach and education. NADC respects
the domain of space as a venue for enhancing quality
of life and the economy. NADC strives to foster a
greater national commitment to advancing space science,
research, exploration, education and commerce through
a private enterprise approach to space development
with appropriate government support."
Sharespace.org
A foundation started by Buzz Aldrin to promote public
interest in space.
SPAACSE
The Society of Performers, Artists, Athletes, and
Celebrities for Space Exploration.
SpaceAlumni.com
This organization seeks "to create and facilitate
connections between people of purpose whose drive
is indisputable and whose passion is space. Transcending
geographical, cultural, and political boundaries,
we strive to equip all space explorers, both present
and future, with the information, tools and associations
that will realize a prosperous future in space exploration
and development."
"The Space Generation Advisory Council
in support of the United Nations Programme on
Space Application (SGAC) is a non-governmental
organisation which aims to represent students
and young space professionals to the United Nations,
States, and space agencies. SGAC has permanent
observer status in the UN Committee on the Peaceful
Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS)."
United
Societies in Space (USIS)
"Provides legal and policy support for those
who intend to go to space. USIS encourages private
property rights and investment. Space is the Free
Market Frontier. USIS encourages access to space by
those who have the vision and fortitude to go there."
United
Space Development Team
Support space development. Support the Mars Prize
for the first team to build a Mars base.
World Space
Week
UN sponsored program each October (this year Oct.
4-10, 2002) that includes various educational and
official events such as the World
Space Congress.
"...government, industry and academia have joined
forces with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists
to forge the next frontier in commercializing space
technology and resources by forming the 8th Continent
Project.
The first generation of space business was about astronauts,
rocket ships and billion-dollar government projects.
Now, the 8th Continent is organizing and commercializing
an emerging generation of entrepreneurial space-related
business ventures with real profit potential."
Here are some other leading space advocacy
organizations whose membership is primary of professionals
in space industry and government agencies:
AERO
Institute
"partnership of individuals; Federal, State and
Regional governments; commercial companies; academic
institutions; and non-profits engaged in broad reaching
research and operations programs as well as addressing
the need technically skilled workforce and STEM education
at all levels."
Innumerable space novels and movies over the years
employed the plot device of the eccentric millionaire/billionaire
(depending on what period and inflation rate you assume)
who pays for the space enterprise on which the story
builds. This device both simplifies things so that the
author can get on with the plot and it humanizes the
endeavor.
In the Apollo era, such notions seemed quaint and silly.
Everyone knew you couldn't do anything in space without
tens of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of
government employees to carry out space missions.
Over the years, however, reality and, at a much slower
rate, perceptions have changed. Commercial
space endeavours, especially in telecommunications,
grew to surpass government funding for space. Not only
satellites but also new rocket projects have been fully
funded by private businesses.
Meanwhile, super-cheap amateur
satellites and COTS (Cheap-Off-the-Shelf)
exploration probes like the Lunar
Prospector demonstrated that low cost space
enterprises could accomplish substantial tasks in space.
From these developments, we have seen the proverbial
rich space mogul emerge and begin to fund projects that
can make a real difference in the development of space.
In the world of business startups, funding often cannot
be found from conventional sources such as banks and
venture capital firms. Instead, a so-called angelinvestor is found who supports the initial costs
out of his or her own pocket.
Similarly, "space angels" are now
putting serious money into innovative space endeavours.
Using very low cost approaches, the projects can carry
out exciting projects that NASA does not have the money
for or, as in the case of space tourism, has stood in
the way of.
Paul
Allen
The billionaire Microsoft co-founder, funded Burt
Rutan's SpaceShipOne
project.
In the fall of 2004, Bigelow announced the creation
of the $50M America's
Space Prize that is intended to spur development
of a low cost, commercial orbital space transportation.
Jim
Benson
After selling in 1995 a successful software firm that
he founded, Benson looked around for other challenges.
Reading about the riches of the asteroids, he decided
to get into the space business and created Spacedev.
Intially the goal was to build a probe to go to a
near earth asteroid to prospect for resources that
could be mined. Working with several reputable space
scientists, the company designed such a probe and
tried to convince NASA to agree to buy the data when
it became available. Spacedev would take all the risk
in building the probe and launching it. Unfortunately,
NASA was not receptive to this approach.
Jeff
Bezos
Founded Amazon.com and has over 1.7 billion dollars
worth of stock. Around 2001 he quietly started a small
company called Blue
Origin. Exactly what it is doing isn't publicly
known but it is said to be developing suborbital rockets.
Bezos was physics major as an undergraduate at Princeton
and I also heard a rumor that he was in SEDS
while in college. If true that certainly indicates
this space venture is no lark but something he is
deeply dedicated to.
John
Carmack
Co-founder of Id
Software and a key programmer for its games such
as Doom and Quake. ID has deliberately remained a
small operation but is still highly profitable. While
probably not in the hectomillionaire range like some
of the above, Carmack has substantial means to pursue
his amateur rocketry interests. He funded a couple
of teams in the CATS
contest and then decided to pursure his own rocket
projects with his Armadillo
Aerospace group.
Formed mostly with volunteers, the goal is not only
to build high altitude vertical takeoff and landing
rocket vehicles but to build them within small budgets
($100k or so.) He finds this more challenging than
simply throwing money at the task. (He chose the VTOL
approach since such vehicles can be tested incrementally
and frequently.) As the log reports show on the Armadillio
website, he has become very adept at rocketry in a
remarkably short time.
Richard
Garriott
The co-founder of the video game company Origin Systems,
which was sold to Electronic Arts in 1992 for $35M.
He is vice-chariman of Space
Adventures and was an early investor and trustee
of the X PRIZE. He is the son of former astronaut
Owen
Garriott, who flew on Skylab.
Takafumi
Horie
CEO of Livedoor,
a Japanese firm that does "networking, consulting,
e-commerce, e-finance and software development."
He is a space enthusiasts and has started a project
with a Russian firm to develop a space tourist system.
Chirinjeev
Kathuria
A wealthy telecom entrepreneur who first became known
to the space community when he made a large investment
in MirCorp
, which was trying to privatize the Mir space station.
In May of 2005 it was announced that he would join
with the Canadian
Arrow rocket builder to form a suborbital space
tourism company called PlanetSpace.
Steve
Kirsch
Founder and former chairman of Infoseek which was
sold to Disney in 1999. According to the Economist
magazine, he contributed" to the Mars Direct
project, to simulate Mars exploration on Earth."
I think this refers to the Mars
Society's various projects. The Society's home
page lists the Kirsch
Foundation as a sponsor. The Foundation also supports
NEO
tracking.
Elon
Musk
Said to be worth several hundred million dollars after
selling two internet companies. (One of these was
Paypal, which he co-founded.) He sees the creation
of a two planet civilisation with colonies on Mars
as essential for the long term sustainability of the
human race.
His main focus currently is SpaceX
, which is developing the Falcon I and Falcon V rockets.
If successful, these vehicles will provide substantial
reductions in the current cost of placing payloads
into orbit.
He has also contributed to other projects such as
the Mars
Oasis project to put a small lander on Mars with
a test biosphere to determine if a greenhouse could
survive there. (He discussed this in detail during
his interview
on the Space Show.) He has also helped the Translife
project, which will test artificial gravity with a
mouse colony in a small spinning satellite.
Talk
(streamed) at Stanford in which Musk discussed
SpaceX and briefly outlines some of his long range
plans.
